by mark gessler mille magnifico - alfa romeo news magnifico gessler nov de… · 62 vintage...

62 VINTAGE MOTORSPORT Nov/Dec 2010 www.vintagemotorsport.com

Celebrating Alfa Romeo’scentenary in a 1933 6C GranSport Zagato while tacklingthe glorious and grueling2010 Mille Mille Storica.BY MARK GESSLER

MILLEMAGNIFICO

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www.vintagemotorsport.com Nov/Dec 2010 VINTAGE MOTORSPORT 63

he modern Mille Miglia is an eventthat retraces the path of the historicraces run between 1927 and 1957.Back then, it was a grueling, all out,1,000-mile race run on open roadsacross the Italian countryside from thenorthern town of Brescia to Rome and

back. Today the race, in its 27th running, isa well-managed and highly competitiverally for 375 historic cars from the period.During a span of 48 hours, competitorstravel through nearly 50 cities, complete 42special timing sections and enjoy the cheersof millions of spectators who line the route.

I am here as part of a team with oneobjective—to win the 2010 Mille Miglia.Arriving in Milan’s Malpensa Airport onearly Sunday morning a full five daysbefore the race, I was greeted by my friendLuciano Viaro, who’s an affable characterwith an infectious smile and abundant

enthusiasm. Luciano is something of aMille Miglia legend—having reached thepodium five times in the last five years andthree times as the overall champion.

This year was a new experience for

Viaro. After years as the top driver forMuseo Alfa Romeo, he struck out on hisown with his own team, known asSPORTS, with emphasis on the “TS” for hishome town of Treste. A year earlier we

started to hatch the idea of usingmy 1933 Alfa Romeo to try forvictory in the 2010 Mille Migliaas a proper way to celebrate theAlfa Romeo Centenary. Thiswould be my fourth MilleMiglia, but this time mainly asco-driver. My job was to keepLuciano on course, on time, wellfed and awake! My other jobhad taken the preceding 15years: to find, acquire, restoreand document of one of therarest and most agile early AlfaRomeos ever to have run theMille Miglia. This would give us

Ready for action, theSports/Hagerty team gathers aday before the race in Sirmion.

TGessler (R) and Viaro (L)enroute to the start


one of the best race handicaps (1.75) and ashot at the victory.

The car wasn’t just any car, “this car,” asLucino liked to say, “is the Queen of theMille Miglia.” A 1933 Alfa Romeo 6C GranSport with special one-off coachwork byZagato and a rare testa fissa racing engine.The car was originally owned by a womanracing driver, Anna Maria Peduzzi (akaMarocchina). She and her soon-to-behusband Gianfranco Comotti drove forScuderia Ferrari at the 1934 Mille Miglia,winning the 1500cc class and finishing13th overall.

The car was sent to Italy four monthsbefore the race. This gave Luciano the timehe needed to tune, train, adjust and makethe Alfa as failsafe as the rules would allow.Gianni Torelli, a renowned Italianmechanic, shut down his shop entirely totune the car and the testa fissa engine thathe revived a year earlier.

Arrival and PracticeFrom the airport we arrived at theContinental Hotel in the town of Brescia—the historic start and finish point for the

Mille Miglia. After a quick espresso,Luciano and I were off in the Alfa to one ofthe known timed stages of the race, arather tricky stretch of road with a steepcobblestone switchback. The start andfinish points of the timed sections hadalready been marked with spray-paint by

the organizers.Luciano managed the

computer-like stopwatchthat was about the size ofa paperback book andstrapped firmly to histhigh. It ’s a deviceLuciano designed and isused by most of the topcompetitors. He hadearphones taped securelyto his ear, which wouldbeep to count down thefinal seconds to the end

of the section. Luciano controlled speedwith throttle and brake to guide the carover the target line at precisely the rightmoment. In addition to the route book, Iwas responsible for a digital trip meterduring the timed sections to determine thedistance to each target. We spent about anhour going up the hill and practicing thefour timed sections.

For the race, we agreed to communicateeverything in English. This was perfect forme as my Italian is weak and Lucinao’sEnglish is good. Based on a few ofLuciano’s stories, I got the definiteimpression there would be no chit-chatduring the race. It would be all business,which was fine. We were here to win,joking that there would be plenty time totalk after the race.

There was a threat that it would rain allweek, which would be typical for the MilleMiglia. And after dinner around midnightthe rain began. For Luciano this wasperfect! Conditions were ideal for anotherpractice. It was pitch dark, pouring rainand we were exhausted. So we went backthe same stretch of road again to see howthe car would handle the slipperycobblestone hill in the wet. We arrivedback at the hotel at 2 am completelydrenched and more confident. I knewthen, it was this kind of preparation that


IT WOULD BE ALL BUSINESS...WEWERE HERE TO WIN, JOKING THATTHERE WOULD BE PLENTY TIME TOTALK AFTER THE RACE.

Viaro (L) and Gessler (R) set thedigital chronometer prior to the start.

Lucinao Viaro speaksto reporters before

the race.

The Alfa 6C heads through the firstspecial timed stage in Brescia.



set Luciano apart from other competitors.Monday and Tuesday were spent at a

mechanics shop on the outskirts of Brescia.Everything was fine with the ’33 Alfa but theother three cars on our team all needed someattention. Over lunch the generator wasfixed on the 1957 Alfa Romeo 1900 SSZagato and the braking system on the 1933Aston Martin Le Mans was disassembled andreassembled several times until it was right.

Practice, Practice, PracticeEach of those days included more practicesessions in a barren parking lot a shortdrive from the shop. With a timing hosenailed to the ground each driver took turnscircling the lot and driving over the hose as

close to exactly every 30 seconds as theycould. Luciano’s times consistentlyaveraged within three or four 100ths of asecond of the target time and sometimesexactly 30 seconds. The other cars on ourteam took their turns with near equal

results. During the 1000-mile race to Romeand back there would be 42 timedsections. Points are awarded for precision.The total points we would receive woulddetermine our rank in the race.

On Wednesday the car was scutineeredby FIVA inspectors, who check theauthenticity of all the cars entered. Afterthat we were off to a press conference inSirmione, a beautiful peninsula town on thesouthern tip of Lake Garda, and the firsttransit point on this year’s Mille Miglia.Lucino presented the SPORTS team and theBMW factory team spoke about theircelebrating the 70th anniversary of their1940 Mille Miglia win. It was a prelude to

the 1000-mile battle that lay ahead.Thursday was race day. The car was

packed and ready to go by 6 a.m. We werethe first to arrive in town to receive theofficial stamping, a Mille Miglia lead sealattached by a wire around the steering

Through the Italian countrysidethe Alfa reached its top speed.

This is the time card for the Imola toUrbino route on the second day.

HIS MESSAGE WAS SIMPLE:RESPECT THE ROAD, RESPECT THEEVENT AND ABOVE ALL RESPECTTHOSE OF US IN HISTORIC CARSCOMPETING FOR THE WIN!



The rally heads through the streets ofthe Republic of San Marino.


column. By 8 a.m. there were media people andspectators everywhere. Luciano was in top form,speaking to Italian national television and others fromaround the globe there to cover the event.

For 2010, an arrangement had been made to enable130 Ferraris, mostly modern models, to drive ahead of theofficial race on the same route. This Ferrari Tribute createdadditional excitement and trepidation for this year’s MilleMiglia. The SPORTS team was invited to their pre-racelunch. Luciano was a keynote speaker. His message wassimple: respect the road, respect the event and above allrespect those of us in historic cars competing for the win!

From there we were off to another meal—thetraditional pre-race dinner at the Mille Miglia Museum.Luciano and I didn’t eat much, instead we programmedthe stop watch device with each of the target times andthen triple checked that everything was correctlyentered. Once this was complete, we drove our carabout three miles to the pre-grid and, along with the restof the competitors, pushed our cars in numeric ordertoward the start line.

A Most Anticipated MomentThe weather was clear and temperature was perfect. Atexactly 7:30 p.m. car No. 1 crossed the starting ramp.We could hear the engines rev and the crowd roar aseach car left the ramp. As we got closer to the startreporters and friends swarmed the car. Viaro, Viaro thecrowd shouted! Luciano was an Italian crowd favorite.

At 7:45 p.m. our car, No. 44, crossed the ramp. TheAlfa screamed down the first straightway and the crowdroared. We were focused. The first timed stages were justahead. It was the same stretch of winding cobblestoneroad that we’d practiced in a midnight downpour fivedays earlier. This time the course was dry. There werefour consecutive but different distances to be covered inprecisely 20, 23, 23 and 28 seconds. Luciano’s drivingskill was brilliant, we averaged only 6/100ths of a secondoff on each target time. It was a challenging section.

The rest of the evening we were driving in the darkon roads crowded with normal traffic and lined withthousands of spectators. By the time we reached thecrowds in Bologna, it was after midnight. We hadcompleted the second timed stage and were in secondplace overall! The leader was Cané-Galliani in a 1939BMW 328 Mille Miglia Coupé.

We tucked our car away in the hotel garage. As usualwe slept little and were up before dawn to prepare thecar for day two—the trip from Bologna to Rome. TheAlfa was running like a champ. It started every time andhad plenty of power for passing and climbing the hillyterrain. By the lunch stop in Urbino, our position wasfourth place.

On the next stretch off in the distance we could seethe snow-capped mountains. Within minutes we wereclimbing the mountain in such dense fog that we forcedto reduce speed to a snail’s pace. As we approached thesummit, the road was cut from snow drifts more than 10feet high and the fog was even worse. We just made it tothe station in time to start the next set of time trials—infog, on gravel mountaintop roads. We did well andelevated our position to second place overall again.

During the afternoon I had taken over the driving

duties after Luciano nearly fell asleep at the wheel. As Idrove, he literally rested his head on my shoulder andsomehow he managed to sleep. After about an hourLuciano popped back to life astonishingly refreshed. I amsure he dreamt about the race.

Later that evening we arrived in Rome at the halfwaycheck point at around 8:30 p.m. We were then taken inan exhausted state on a tour of Rome behind policeescort, eventually into masses of spectators and media inthe city center. There all the cars were parked in anunderground garage at Villa Borghese. We negotiated topark our Alfa among the modern Ferraris since themodern cars had armed body guards standing by.

We were up at 5 a.m. and left the start at Rome at 7a.m. on Saturday morning. This would be our longest

THE LAST TESTA FISSAIn the 1934 Mille Miglia, this Scuderia FerrariAlfa Romeo finished first in the 1500cc classdriven by Gianfanco Comotti and his fiancéAnna Maria Peduzzi (aka “Marocchina”). Itwas Peduzzi’s car and she raced this carextensively in 1933 and ’34. In 1936, this carraced again in Mille Miglia driven by BaronToulo de Graffenreid. It was his first race car.For the next 20 years the car passed betweenseveral prominent Italian drivers. In 1953, thecar was exported to the U.S. by Luigi Chinettiand sold to Danny Collins, a Denver postman,who raced the car in the SCCA Estes Parkrace. The car was subsequently purchased byDavid Biggs, Hugh Bell, Richard Merritt andHenry Wessells, who owned the car from1968 to 2004.

I first saw the car 10 years ago, tuckedaway in the back of the garage at D.L.Coachworks in Cochranville, Pennsylvania.Resting covered with a thin coat of dustawaiting an engine rebuild, it was a beautyand not a typical 6C Gran Sport. It had raresupercharged 1500cc testa fissa (fixed head)race engine instead of the more typical1750cc unit. And, it had unusual Zagatocoachwork with cycle wing fenders, whichWessells had replaced in the 1980s with moreelegant flowing fenders.

Offered the Alfa in early 2004, I jumped atthe opportunity. Over the next four years thecar was expertly restored by David Georgeback to its 1934 Mille Miglia class-winningconfiguration. We were able to source dozensof period photos and even a newsreel of thecar being scrutineered in the 1934 MilleMiglia. Later research uncovered Peduzzi’soriginal Mille Miglia entry form and letterswhich definitively confirmed the chassis andengine number as 10814406. It was the finalchassis built, a special one-off, the last in theline of the great 6C Gran Sport race cars andthe last testa fissa.

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and by far, the most challenging day. Thefinish line in Brescia was 500 miles away. Itwould be more than 15 long hours if weavoided trouble and made it on time.

Today the race would be won or lost.We were in second and only a few pointsout of first. This could all change with aslight mistake or a mechanical failure.Anything could happen in the top 10positions. All had a chance at the win.

After the timed sections at Radicofaniwe moved into first place. Now, theadrenalin was flowing! With 13 hoursahead of us, it felt to me like our dreamwas slowly turning to reality. An hour laterafter the sections at Montalcino we wereback down to second place, with the thirdplace BMW closing in on us in points.

The landscape from Rome throughTuscany to Bologna is blessed with some ofthe most glorious roads on the planet.Driving a 1933 Alfa Romeo Gran Sport onthe Mille Miglia though Siena and Florenceand on the Futa and Raticosa passes is adrive of a lifetime.

A Costly ErrorJust south of Bologna at the timed stage inMonghidoro, Luciano accidentally doubleclicked on the stop watch and we wentacross the last timing hose of that section

3.69 seconds early—a disaster! As ithappened Luciano threw his hands up indisgust. “Its over” he said. “We lost.” Bybeing more than three seconds early or latefor a timed stage we received the maximumpenalty for that section. The result was zeropoints where by contrast we wouldtypically pick up 400 to 700 points foreach timed section.

There we were, seeming assured of atop finish, and one extra tap on ourstopwatch cost us everything. One year ofplanning, the diligent work of a dozenmechanics, the endless hours of

preparation, documentation, transport andentry fees. Now even a top-10 finishseemed unlikely. What was for sure wasthat the mistake would cost us. I triedfeebly to muster the right words to say, as ifsomething could be said to make thingsbetter at this point.

About 30 minutes later we received atext message regarding the ranking of thetop positions. Miraculously we were still insecond overall. Our error had been costly,but not fatal. There were just a few timedsections to go. A top finish was back in ourgrasp.

Ten-foot snow banks and fog greeted the intrepidrally goers at the Terminillo special stage.

A special stage ran on an old style“strada bianca” (white road).

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On to BresciaWe passed through the final timed sectionswith near perfect scores, but we had a longway to go to get to the final checkpointoutside of Brescia at 10:19 p.m. Westreamed though traffic with oncoming carspulling over and those in front of us givingus room as well. There was heavy trafficfrom Bologna to Brescia.

In these situations exhaustion leads to

errors and I had one as well. I missed oneof turns in the route book which terrifiedme once I discovered it. Here we were backin the hunt and now I made an error!

Fortunately we stayedcalm, retraced our pathand were able to get backon route. It cost us 15minutes, which we couldnot spare.

The last leg of the racebecame the mostexhilarating. We knew thenthat we were assured apodium finish, if we couldjust get to the finalcheckpoint on time. Wefought our way weaving

through traffic. Luciano buried the throttlealong every straightaway and flew throughroundabouts at break-neck speeds. Thecrowds cheered us on and we made it ontime for our final stamp —second overall!

About a half hour later we drove injubilation over the formal finish ramp tothe wild cheering of the Brescia crowds.Cameras flashed, Luciano said a few words,and in English I said it was fantastic and atpoints miraculous. We sprayed champagneand I soaked in the moment of a lifetime.Lucinao was right, our car was the Queenof the this Mille Miglia, second only to theKing—the BMW 328 Coupé driven tovictory by Cané and Galliane.

There is, of course, always next year.Maybe then the Queen will reign.

After their second-place finish, a weary driver and navigator head

the Alfa across the ramp in Brescia.

The team celebrates their second-place finishin the 1933 Alfa Romeo 6C Gran Sport.

WE WERE ASSURED A PODIUM FINISH,IF WE COULD JUST GET TO THE FINALCHECKPOINT ON TIME.


by mark gessler mille magnifico - alfa romeo news magnifico gessler nov de… · 62 vintage...

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